Telling the Fam'
by rebel diamond18
Summary: “Isn’t he the crazy guy that throws himself off of buildings and slices his hand open in interrogation rooms?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: "Isn't he the crazy guy that throws himself off of buildings and slices his hand open in interrogation rooms?"

**A/N**: Everyone has their own take on what Alex's family must be like, here's a sampling of mine. Since the writers haven't given us a clear picture of the Eames family, I took some liberties while still trying to be faithful to what we do know.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want me to come with you? Seriously Alex, I'm responsible too ya know. This is my child too." He was making a last-ditch offer to accompany her to her parents' house to break the news she was pregnant. Since Nicole Wallace had so thoughtfully revealed to the captain and certain other key players in their professional lives, Alex could no longer put off telling her family. God forbid they heard it from someone else. She'd never hear the end of it.

She looked at Bobby from across his apartment. "I know that and you know that," she reasoned, "But honestly, your being there might . . ." Alex searched for how to put it into words he'd understand, "heighten emotions and further aggravate the situation," she finished finally. _Cop terms,_ she thought, _word it like one of those criminal profiles he likes so damn much._

She could see by the look on his face that her carefully chosen words hadn't had their desired effect. "What?" he asked genuinely perplexed. "How can that be? Wouldn't your family want the man responsible there?"

She leaned her hip against the counter, put her hand on her waist, and looked at him from underneath her eyelashes, "My family are cops, firefighters, nurses . . . they could make New York a very uncomfortable place for you. Bobby."

"You make it sound like the mob," he grumbled scrunching up his neck in an effort to look down, trying for the third time to knot his tie properly amongst their exchange.

She smiled at him exasperatedly, leaving the omelet she was making on the stove to walk across the wooden floor to stand in front of him. She gently pushed his arms down to his sides, evening the silk in her hands, "I come from a family of cops, Bobby. They have guns."

"Well, so do I," he countered weakly.

"Yeah but they wouldn't hesitate to use them," she replied, straightening his tie.

"I'm going to have to meet them eventually," he commented quietly in the voice that usually broke her heart, like a pathetic little boy. But today she was putting her foot down.

She gave him a look, "Come on, Bobby, this is the Eames family – we have a picnic for everything, you'll get to meet them."

He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off by quickly pressing her mouth to his and picking up his jacket, "Go to work. I'll be right behind you." He didn't complain, just rubbed his hands over his mouth a few times and grumbled some words under his breath she chose not to acknowledge and saw him out the door.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm pregnant."

Alex stood in the doorway of her childhood home. She hadn't even taken off her coat yet. She didn't know what she thought would've happened had she at least took the time to sit down, but no, she acted like Nicole Wallace herself was on her heels and any minute was going to burst in the door behind her, screaming the news.

So okay, in her mind she had it playing out better than this. But then she had walked in and her dad wasn't in the chair she had pictured him being in and there was her mother coming out of the kitchen, offering her coffee or tea and she just . . . she just . . . blurted it out.

_Clang!_

That would be her mother's good china hitting the floor.

To see the blank stares of her parents made her secretly wish she had taken up Bobby on his offer to come, he would have (at the very least) got a couple eyes off her and onto him.

"What?" her mother gasped, but Alex's eyes were on her father, who had silently accepted the news and sat there, considering his coffee. "Oh Alex," her mother (always eager for a new grandchild) sighed happily, hands clasped at her heart. She rushed over to her youngest daughter, yanking her into a tight embrace. And for a moment, for a split second, Alex closed her eyes and thought everything would be okay. But just then she felt her mother tense and pull back hesitantly, "but . . ." she searched her daughter's eyes, "we didn't know you were seeing anyone," she commented cautiously, throwing a nervous glance at Alex's dad. The tone in her mother's voice faltered considerably. Her hands dropped.

Oh -- so everything's not so hunky-dory. "Well, I was . . . I mean, I am," Alex quickly amended.

"Well . . . who is he?" her mother asked expectantly.

She knew this moment would be coming, obviously. But she found the name stuck in her throat just the same. What her family would think . . . if only she could explain first, work backwards somehow.

"It's that partner of yours, isn't it?" Alex's head snapped up startled. It was her big brother, who stood leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, beer in his hand; he wore a dark blue t-shirt with his firehouse's logo emblazoned on the left pocket. He must have stopped by to visit when he got off work.

Of all her siblings, this one she had the most problems with. Whereas her youngest brother was the jokester and her older sister her closest friend, Nick was the big protector of the four kids. Growing up this hadn't been a problem for her sister, the princess, but Alex the tomboy, had fought him tooth and nail since birth. He was a great father, and Alex got along great with his wife Megan, but almost twenty years after high school, he still thought he knew what was best for her, just because he was first out of the womb. Alex had no idea he was going to be there, lurking. Had she known, she would have had considerably less of a problem keeping her mouth shut.

And his reaction and his accusation, however right it may be, did not bode well for Alex. If Nick was good for one thing, it was being used as a barometer to see where her father would fall on the issue.

By this time, Alex had gained back the use of her voice, "What? How did you . . .?"

"When you were pregnant for Lisa and Steve, do you know how many people thought you were having his kid? I lost count on the number of people I had to threaten to get the story straight."

Alex had never heard that particular rumor. If there was ever a time Alex rued her family's connections to the NYPD, now was it.

"What are his intentions?" her dad had finally spoken.

"Intentions, dad, really?" her old man was as old-fashioned as they came in all areas of life, including her own. While Lisa may have been the princess, Alex and her dad had always been sort of buddies – working on cars, the police department. As many differences as they may have had, Alex wanted him to be okay with this, maybe more than okay. Alex and Bobby had already made their decision, but it would be nice for some support.

"Well, are you getting married?" her mother piped up optimistically.

"We haven't talked about it," the questions were coming from all sides now.

"Haven't talked . . ." her brother scoffed, "that's the first thing I would've . . ."

"I thought you'd sworn off cops, what happened?" this from her sister, who had come out of the back bedroom.

"Lisa! God, is the whole family here!?"

"Almost," Lisa commented offhandedly. Alex peered over Lisa's shoulder, waiting for the in-laws or maybe her kid brother to come out of the woodwork. Why hadn't she noticed the cars?

Her sister had been right, after her late husband, she had sworn off cops. But not out of fear of losing them in the line of duty. Joe had been a nice guy, and treated her right, but she had begun to doubt the lastingness of their marriage even before his life had been cut so tragically short. It didn't make losing him any easier, but she had learned that she wanted to be more than just her job.

And then there was Robert O. Goren who, quite literally, was the job. But it was different. At work, she was NYPD and his partner "Eames" who he never mollycoddled because he was either too busy working out a case in his head and he didn't have room in there, or confident she could take care of herself. Alex voted for the latter, but she was pretty sure it was a 50/50 mix.

But off the clock she was "Alex" his significant other who was carrying their child. Yes he would sometimes wake her up at odd times of the night to tell her about connections he had made about the case they were working on, but he was easily set back on course. Besides, they never got each other personal gifts, instead going on weekend trips to a place where no one knew them.

"Goren . . ." Lisa recited, "Isn't he the crazy guy that throws himself off of buildings and slices his hand open in interrogation rooms? My friend Connie had to stitch him up once."

"Yeah," Nick agreed darkly, "and he's also the one who got you kidnapped and tortured by that crazy mentor's kid. Alex, this is hardly the type of man you want to have a kid with."

Alex shook her head; of course he was going to bring up that incident even though it happened years ago.

Her mother gasped audibly, "Alex how could you?" She was almost certain she heard the words "mentally unstable" being mumbled by her father.

"It's done," Alex's voice rose, putting the others to rest, "it's already happened. We're going to have this baby." She looked at her family and was sick of the runaround. Better to get their bottom lines and work from there. Suddenly tired, she sighed, "So? What do you think?"

More silence. But everyone seemed to be looking at her brother, so Alex did the same.

"I want to meet him."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 --

_You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand. You don't have to stay forever I would understand. Believe me. Believe meeeee. Damnit, Linda!_ Bobby Goren cursed Officer Cornell's overly chipper wife who always felt the need to bring her husband his lunch practically everyday, usually while humming.

See, this was why he couldn't work without Eames – he got distracted. With no impending case to work on and nothing but paperwork to fill out, his mind wandered. Even before they were romantically involved, Alex was always there, prodding him along with the promise of the food they were going to have for lunch, if he'd just finish filling out the paper in front of him. At the very least, there would be someone to talk to. And Ross kept making excuses to hover around his desk and Alex wasn't there to run interference. So he tapped his pencil. Threw himself back in his chair. Looked around. If only he had something _to do_. It drove Alex a bit nuts, his inability to focus on some things, but his capability to have a militant focus on others.

For example, she was good at surveillance, like sitting on park benches for hours on end looking for faces, yet, if there was forty-eight hours of security camera tape to pour over or recordings of interviews and phone calls from rambling murderers, he was your guy. He just needed to feel like he was _doing_ something as opposed to waiting for someone to come to him.

And that's what he felt like he was doing now – waiting.

_Coffee_, he thought, _time for coffee_. Time for an excuse to get up and move, really, but coffee was as good a pretense as any. Bobby stood up from his chair, glad to stretch. He turned to make his way to the coffee machine.

For the umpteenth time this morning, his thoughts wandered to what Eames was doing at that very moment. He checked his watch while he poured his coffee. She should be back by now. That was, if everything with her parents had gone smoothly. Considering he'd never met her family and all impressions he got of them were second hand from Alex, he couldn't be confident.

Whenever circumstances with her family presented themselves, like when she was in the hospital, he always visited at off hours, so as not to intrude on family time. He was the one who had given her a window into his family, most of which had been unintentional – randomly running into his brother on the street, his mother's failing health butting into his work hours and coming up in cases.

Alex had always kept her professional and private life separate. If there were stresses at home, she never brought them into the precinct and vice versa. They were opposites in that way. She was able to remain detached, always, whereas he threw himself in emotions first then was led by his gut. If there was any aspect of their partnership they got frustrated with each over, it was that. When his emotions got involved in a case, he grew distant and despondent. If she got emotionally involved at all, she got angry, but her head was always in the game with him as a team, which was much more conducive to the job – and their partnership.

_It's a wonder she ever agreed to get involved with me,_ he thought, thinking over his past history. _Hell, __**I**__ wouldn't get involved with me._ Now that his mother had passed and Frank had gotten his life more or less together, Bobby's life had calmed significantly and he and Alex hadn't gotten together until after that. It wasn't by design, well, maybe it was on her part. He wouldn't have been a very good partner outside of work before that time.

The first few years of their partnership, he had dated women without major incident. But, in about the fifth year of their partnership, life had begun to butt in. And he hadn't been in a serious relationship since then until now. Every spare minute had been spent either throwing himself into a case or visiting his mother or doing research for both. It was all for the best in the end. Alex had been a major fixture in his life during that time, whether she knew it or not. A touchstone for him, even if she felt he was pulling away. Just the fact of her allowed him to sleep at night. It still did.

Lost in thought, Goren accidentally filled two coffee cups out of habit and his hand was moving to scoop up a handful of sugars for Alex's cup. Sighing, he threw the sugar down, checked his watch again, compared it to the clock on the wall, and went back to his desk.

"Goren!" an unfamiliarly deep voice boomed across the precinct. The entire Major Case Squad looked up at the burly man hurrying across the floor. He abruptly stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. Bobby could tell the man was agitated and wasn't entirely sure which one he was. People who were on the phone abruptly ended their calls, those who were milling around the break room found a reason to return to their desks. "Which one of you's Goren?" Yet, when twenty-five pairs of eyes landed on him, no one came to his aid.

_C'mon guys_, Bobby thought, you'd think you'd be safe in Goddamn police headquarters. The man had a visitor's badge on, so he had cleared security. He took a quick glance at the door to the Captain's office and took slight comfort in the fact that Ross was hanging out his doorway confusedly, taking some tentative steps toward the man. Though Goren was fairly certain Ross wouldn't be in a complete hurry to take a bullet or punch for him, he might feel inclined to break it up a scuffle just to save himself paperwork and grief.

An older man, who had to be approaching his seventies, though he didn't move like it, appeared behind the visitor. You could tell he and the younger man came from the same stock. _Wait a minute_, Bobby took a few seconds to really study them. The younger one looked familiar. From a picture. He ran his mind quickly over the cases they had recently gone over. All the lineups. No, not from work, somewhere else. Alex's. Alex's house. The pictures on her bookshelf. Pictures of her family. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Eames' brother. And father.

_Jesus Christ they are going to shoot me_.

Bobby found himself unable to form words so he just stood there like a damn guppy. The two men continued to search the room. "Dad look!" Eames' brother pointed at the desk across from Bobby. He followed their eyes. The Santa mug. Figures, of all the people in the room, Saint Nick was going to be the one to give him up.

Eames' brother took his index finger and followed a direct line from Alex's desk to his, then up to Bobby's face, who continued to stand there dumbly, coffee cup in each hand. There was a few seconds of a standoff before the two men started forward. Right then, he heard a voice of an angel break through the fog. "Nick!" she hissed, running after her brother and father. Never since knowing her was Bobby more relieved to see Alex. Though, "relief" nor any of its synonyms could be applied to her at the moment. Her livid eyes bounced around the room, visibly embarrassed at the scene her family was making. She shot some whose eyes lingered a little too long a pointed look and they instantly found whatever was on their desks suddenly fascinating.

She caught up with her family, who had continued to advance on Bobby, neither of them turned to look at her. "Dad!" she said, taking a deep breath. "They caught the first elevator and didn't wait for me," she explained, the last four words were hard as she glared at her brother and father. Her eyes met Goren's apologetically.

Neither her father nor brother looked particularly sorry. Bobby took comfort in the fact he had some height on both the male Eames – apparently no one in the family was particularly tall – but where they lacked in height, they made up for in mass. Both men looked liked they've been around the block a few times, and wouldn't mind going again if it'd be worth their while. "We told you, we didn't want to hurt him, just . . . scare him a bit," Nick shrugged. Bobby felt his blood pressure finally begin to drop.

"Fine," Alex ground out, "you got what you came for, now both of you can leave."

"In a minute," her father said, absentmindedly patting his daughter on the arm.

"Eames!" a voice rang out. All four of them turned. While her father had not worked in Major Case, apparently he had been one popular guy. A couple of older men who worked in the precinct, who Goren didn't know very well, were approaching the group, big smiles on their faces. Her dad's old buddies. No wonder no one was in a hurry to come to his aid, they knew him.

"What are you doing here?" the other man laughed, shaking the eldest Eames' hand.

Eames' father turned a stern eye on Bobby, "Seems this one here got my baby girl pregnant."

This was surreal. If this is what having a well-adjusted childhood meant, Bobby wasn't sure he'd be willing to trade his in.

"Fitz, you didn't know anything about this, did you?" he asked warningly.

Fitz shook his head dutifully, "No sir, or I would've been on the phone."

"Oh, for the love of . . ." Bobby heard Alex grumble under her breath. He knew how much this bothered her – the buddy-boy system. He liked to think that was a part of why they worked together – professionally and personally – he wasn't in the buddy-boy system. None of his close friends were cops. When he arrived at Major Case, most cops thought he was too out there, so he was left out of the loop, which was fine with him. Being eccentric or "an acquired taste" kept him out of all that. Maybe that's partly why she dropped her partner reassignment request, she could do so much worse.

"But seriously," his father's stance finally relaxed, "we just wanted to come down and take you two to lunch. With Alex, who knows when we'd ever meet you. No hard feelings, huh son?" he held out his hand for Bobby, who took it.

Goren shook his head, "No sir," he replied, a slightly dazed look on his face. He met Alex's eyes over her father's shoulder and didn't read "danger" in them, so he just rolled with it.

"C'mon, grab your jackets you two, I know a place."

TBC


End file.
